Although incumbent Natalie Teuchert is running for reelection to the Oviedo City Council Group 1 seat uncontested, OCN wanted to include her in the Voter Guide, which provides candidate profiles, videos and Q&A with reader-submitted questions, so you can learn more about your Council member and where she stands on issues that you said mattered to you in our survey.
OCN will republish this guide when the finalized campaign finance reports are available on Oct. 11.
Natalie Teuchert
Natalie Teuchert is a 30-year-old Oviedo resident running uncontested for reelection to Oviedo City Council Group 1. She has served on the Council since 2021. She holds a bachelor’s of science degree from Florida State University, and is currently a waste-to-energy engineer at Babcock and Wilcox. With 12 years of experience as a mechanical engineer, she says she is knowledgeable on how to interpret contracts and codes to help her make technical decisions often demanded as a council member.
Teuchert has lived in Oviedo for more than 20 years, and lives in the Alafaya Woods subdivision with her husband and two young sons.
Techert is a member of the Congregation Bet Chaim synagogue, owner of the Wedding Barn, a wedding venue business near Solary Park set to open this November, and has volunteered with Oviedo Citizens In Action and the Crimson Outreach Program.
Her platform includes being an advocate for underserved communities, supporting Oviedo’s healthy and controlled growth, protecting the city’s natural environment, and attracting high-technology and medical business to Oviedo.
Teuchert’s total campaign contributions were $200, all of which she contributed herself. Her campaign expenditures total $0. Learn more.
Q&A
Growth, development and the environment
In our survey for this voter guide, more than 40% of OCN readers identified growth and development as a local issue that matters most to them. Almost a quarter identified environmental preservation, including the protection of local wildlife, natural space and waterways, as their top local concern.
What do you think constitutes controlled or smart growth for Oviedo?
The state requires municipalities to allow room for the projected population increase for the next 20 years. Municipalities have the choice to disburse that growth without a plan or make a conscious decision to plan for where the increased density will go. Smart, controlled growth is choosing to have a plan for what is to come in terms of where zoning densities will increase and how our infrastructure is going to adapt and harden to keep up.
For incumbents, please describe any previous work on the City Council you’ve done that you think promotes smart or controlled growth. For those without previous Council experience, please describe any work you’ve done as a citizen in this vein.
In my first term, Council had the difficult task of finalizing and submitting our 2045 comprehensive plan. I was a strong advocate for controlled growth that allowed our current suburban neighborhoods to remain as is by increasing density in core areas and by pushing back on proposed areas I thought were being made too dense. Along with our comprehensive plan, I was a champion for safe multi-mobility trails and transportation options in our long-term mobility plan.
Please describe what you plan to do on the City Council, if elected, to promote controlled or smart growth.
I will continue to push for safe infrastructure for multimodal transportation. I will keep up the due diligence when reviewing site plans and make sure we are proactive in our interconnectivity requests as areas build up. I will work to proactively implement the plans we worked so hard to create.
Please describe any work you plan to do, if elected, that will promote environmental preservation.
I will continue to support our rural boundary and advocate against sprawl. Along with any green initiatives to come from our citizen-led sustainability board, I will support environmentally-friendly changes to our upcoming Land Development Code revision and will continue to advocate for native landscaping solutions.
Explain how the city’s resources, such as police, fire and public utility personnel and capital infrastructure, such as equipment, will keep pace with development and population growth.
When I started my first term, we had a large amount of turnover and too many open positions. By pushing to better invest in our employees, we reduced turnover. [Staff separations were reduced from 57 last year to 28 this year]. We also improved our compensation packages to better recruit new talent. This budget cycle we were able to approve an additional public works crew to tackle some of the backed up maintenance we had from past shortages. I will continue to support our staff and the future plans to grow with the city.
Traffic, transportation and roadway conditions
Nearly 30% of readers who responded to OCN’s voter guide survey said issues surrounding traffic in the city was their top local priority.
If elected, what would you do to ease traffic congestion in Oviedo?
We have a huge opportunity in Oviedo to switch to a mobility fee. This will allow us to access a funding source for our transportation projects that we don’t currently have access to but is already being collected. Funding is always the biggest issue in implementing transportation plans and this will remove a big hurdle. I will continue to work with the rest of Council to finalize our priority list of projects, implement the mobility plan, and make sure our city plan reflects the needs of our transportation system.
Multiple residents asked about what can be done to fix potholes and other deterioration in Oviedo’s roads in OCN’s voter guide survey. Do you think the quality and maintenance of Oviedo roads is an issue and, if so, what would you do, as a member of City Council, to better maintain them?
Yes, I do think it’s an issue and I’m happy to say that we’ve made a lot of progress catching up in the past couple of years. Our sidewalks and roadways are still behind, but rather than fixing a few locations here and there, we have started contracting crews to fix entire neighborhoods at a time. [Editor’s note: For details, click here and watch at the 1:50 mark]. We just approved an additional road crew with this years’ budget that will also help address the ongoing maintenance of our roads. I will continue to push forward on our maintenance backlog until we are able to consistently become proactive instead of reactive.
Are you planning to do any work, if elected to Council, to enhance public transportation options in Oviedo, such as bus service? If so, what do you think needs to be done?
I am in favor of enhancing our public transportation system in partnership with the county and state. Along with expanding our trail system and creating multimodal pathways throughout the city, I am in support of creating a circulator around the city that can tie into county transportation and connect our suburban areas to our core downtown.
Several survey respondents asked how the city can become more friendly to walking and biking. Can you explain what you would do on Council to make the city more friendly to this type of transportation?
Our current mobility plan signifies a huge shift from solely moving cars to moving people in multimodal options. People are starting to use alternative methods of transportation for local trips, including electric bicycles, scooters, golf carts, etc., and we don’t have the proper infrastructure for it. The mobility plan we are finalizing addresses that. I was adamant about future bicycle lanes not sharing space with cars and instead being up and closer to the sidewalk. If we want to encourage people to use other modes of transportation for local travel, our infrastructure must be inviting to do so in a safe manner.
Seminole County grades its roads’ capacity on a daily basis, meaning that it looks at total daily traffic numbers on the roads, not the number at peak traffic times, to determine if they’re at capacity. This is why most roads still show they have capacity for growth even though motorists experience congestion during their morning and afternoon commutes. The city uses the county’s road grades because otherwise it would have to pay to collect the traffic information itself, which would be a considerable expense, city staff has said. What is your opinion of this system? Do you believe that this is something that should be addressed by City Council? If so, how do you think it needs to be addressed? If not, why?
When I first asked our consultant to bring this up, he explained the disconnect with what we are experiencing during our daily commutes and what our design capacity is saying is OK. The issue with swapping to solely a peak-hour count is that we would be requiring roads to be designed to sit empty for the majority of the day. Ideally, we would require roads to be designed based on the daily basis and a not-to-exceed load capacity at peak traffic times that sits slightly above that. With the cost barrier for the city, I believe our best path forward is to gain access to the mobility fee to start implementing projects to relieve our roadways.
What can you do as a member of Council to ensure that other city infrastructure is in place ahead of development?
Our comprehensive plan addressed this exact issue. We made a conscious decision to increase density in core areas where our infrastructure could better handle incoming growth. I agree with this decision, and I will also continue to advocate against costly suburban sprawl. Infrastructure becomes more expensive and difficult to maintain the further it is spread out. I also voted with the rest of Council to utilize $9 million of ARPA [American Rescue Plan Act] funding to proactively begin hardening our utility system and start working towards a higher capacity water supply with a deep well.
Housing
If elected, would you make affordable/workforce housing a priority? If so, please explain how.
Housing affordability is a national issue that needs to be addressed from multiple angles at every level of government. Along with increased market inventory, transportation is a huge factor on whether a location is affordable. I will continue to be an advocate for policies that can help lower the local costs of living. I will support infrastructure for multimodal transportation options and support our comprehensive plan that allows for higher density, mixed-use development in our core areas.
What are your views on building high-density apartment buildings along major traffic areas?
Florida has a housing crisis and the state of Florida requires the city to accept new growth for our projected population. If our infrastructure can handle it and it is located in the proper zoning, I am not against high-density apartments. I am against high-density apartments on Mitchell Hammock [Road] where we don’t have the capacity for it. In our 2045 comprehensive plan, I unsuccessfully fought to keep the sod farm areas on Mitchell Hammock [Road] zoned as rural but successfully kept the percolation ponds untouched.
Taxes
Several survey respondents submitted questions concerning Oviedo’s tax rate.
If elected, what would you do, if anything, to cut costs in the city in an effort to reduce taxes? What would you do, if anything, to generate more revenue in the city to avoid raising taxes?
Looking to see if there are areas to cut costs is a constant exercise in the city. Since being in office, Council has made tough decisions to cut underperforming city events and rearrange other events to increase their return. Several of our departments have also rate checked our fees with other local municipalities to make sure we are properly collecting the correct amounts. Any further cost cuts in the city would require a decrease in expected level of service. Fortunately, our budget is in a healthier place than in years past. I do not currently see a need to increase taxes.
Personal experience
How long have you lived in Oviedo?
I grew up here, starting in fourth grade at Evans Elementary School, more than 20 years ago. I have four generations of family living locally.
Please list any volunteer work you’ve done in the City of Oviedo.
- Active member of Oviedo Citizens in Action (OCIA) where I have helped with neighborhood cleanups and other local events.
- Volunteered at multiple HOPE Helps events (Back to School Bash, Christmas in the City, etc.),
- Hand delivered sandbags in rising waters after Hurricane Ian [in 2022]
- There are also a lot of volunteer opportunities that I take part in as a continuation of my Council duties. We have an awesome community in Oviedo that I am proud to be a part of.
Please list any local municipal boards or committees that you’ve served on.
- Oviedo City Council member
- Oviedo Community Redevelopment Board member
- Member of Friends of Lake Jesup member
- City Alternate for Council of Local Governments in Seminole County, a group where representatives of city and government agencies in the county traditionally give local updates.
